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City limits coin payments to $2

Robert Perea
9:11 p.m. PDT July 12, 2014

Close-up of large group of coins. The Fernley City Council on July 2 approved a new coin policy, which states the city will not accept coins as payment for services in any amount more than $2.(Photo: Getty Images)

Under a new city of Fernley policy, customers paying their utility bills can no longer pay with coins.

The Fernley City Council on July 2 approved a new coin policy, which states the city will no longer accept coins as payment for services in any amount more than $2.

City clerk Kim Swanson said customers have, many times, presented large amounts of coins for payment of utility bills, taking a large amount of staff time to count the coins.

The city accepts, cash, checks, credit and debit cards for payments. Swanson said no city or federal statute requires the city to accept coins.

Mayor LeRoy Goodman said he was aware of two different occasions where a customer left a shoe box of coins on the counter for payment and walked away, and both times the amount was a dollar or $1.20 short.

"That behavior is not acceptable," Goodman said.

The council debated the amount of coins the city should take, with councilman Roy Edgington suggesting $10 unrolled or $20 in rolled coins.

However, other council members said they have problems with rolled coins, because the rolls could contain casino tokens or slugs, or other devices, rather than coins, and the city is liable for the difference if the money is short when it makes a bank deposit.

Seidl suggested a limit of 200 coins, saying the number is more relevant than the dollar amount, because it could result in employees counting hundreds of pennies.

After debating different amounts acceptable, the council approved a motion by Seidl to approve the policy as written, which included the $2 maximum amount.